Oedipus Rex | plot summary and key discussions

Oedipus Rex : plot summary.

Once upon a time in the kingdom of thebes, the theban king Laius, and his queen, Jocasta, had tried so long to beget a child, all to no avail. Laius paid the oracle of delphi a visit, to learn if he and his wife would ever have a child and to his greatest shock, the oracle revealed to him that the gods had made it so, for any son born out of their union was destined to slay him. The child would kill his father, and marry his mother. 

Paying heed to the oracle's advice, Laius did his best to stay away from his wife's bed, until one fateful night when he got drunk,and laid with his wife, and got her pregnant. When Jocasta gave birth, it was what they feared, a baby boy. To prevent the prophecy, Laius told his servants to pierce the baby's ankles, so the baby would not be able to crawl, nor walk when it was time, therefore, would not be able to cause him harm.

Laius then told one of his servants to get rid of the baby, to take him far away and leave him deep in the woods to die. Now the boy was gone, the prophecy had been thwarted, so Laius thought. But a shepherd happened to be passing by, when he found the abandoned baby, and took him to King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth. The corinthian king and queen had no child of their own, so they decided to adopt the baby and raise him as theirs.

Seeing his ankle wounds, the royal couple gave the baby the name, 'Oedipus', which means swollen foot. When Oedipus became a man, he was one day, told by a drunkard that king Polybus and queen Merope were only his foster parents, and not his birth parents. Of course, polybus and merope denied this, and tried to dismiss the rumour, but oedipus had begun having doubts.

 He traveled to Delphi to learn the truth from the famed oracle herself, only to be told by the oracle, that he, oedipus, would kill his father and marry his own mother. Shaken to the bone, oedipus hurried away from Delphi, forgetting to ask the question that brought him to the temple. Still thinking that polybus and merope were his real parents, oedipus fled corinth, in his attempt to protect them from the grim prophecy.

He headed towards thebes, the city closest to delphi, unbeknownst to him, he was heading to his actual hometown, to the kingdom of his actual parents. His abominable destiny was beginning to unravel. On his way, oedipus reached Davlia, a place where three roads crossed each other. He saw a chariot approaching, the chariot was carrying king laius, his real father. Oedipus and Laius' charioteer started quarreling over who had the right to go first.

As the charioteer tried to run him over, oedipus, killed him. and when laius stepped in, oedipus killed him too, thus, unknowingly fulfilling the first half of his prophecy. Coincidentally, a fleeing slave, who was also traveling on the same road at that time, witnessed the whole scene. Still on his journey to Thebes, Oedipus came across the horrid flesh eating Sphinx, who had plagued that region of thebes for a long time. The sphinx was a creature with the body of a lion, strong wings like that of an eagle, and the head of a woman.

It would stop all those traveling to Thebes, and ask them a riddle. If the travelers refused to answer, or were unable to answer correctly, the monster would kill and devour them. But if they gave the right answer, they were free to continue on their journey. The see monster approached oedipus and asked him: " What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon and three at night ? ".

 Oedipus thought for a while, and replied thus: "The answer is Man: for man as an infant, crawls on all fours; as an adult, he walkson two legs; and in old age, with a 'walking' stick".

No one had ever solved the riddle correctly, and the sphinx, so mad that oedipus solved her riddle, threw herself off the cliff, toher death. oedipus was free to go on ahead, into thebes. Before this incident, Creon, the brother ofthe widowed queen of thebes, Jocasta, had made a decree that any man who freed Thebes from the terrible sphinx, would be rewarded with the throne of thebes and the hand ofthe queen in marriage. And so after oedipus defeated the sphinx andher riddle, he was given his father's throne, and the hand of his mother in marriage.

The prophecy, had been fulfilled. Neither oedipus nor jocasta, recognized theother, and together, they had four children, namely; Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone, andIsmene. Some years later, a terrible curse descended on thebes. plants and animals perished, the lands were rendered infertile, and the people began to starve. King Oedipus sent his uncle, creon, to the oracle of delphi, to find out the cause of the plague. And the advice of creon, oedipus also sent for the famed blind prophet of thebes, Tiresias, who, although blind, could see more than anyone.

Creon returned with the words of the oracle of delphi, that the kingdom of thebes was suffering because the murderer of the former king, Laius, had not been brought to justice. oedipus who had no idea it was him, swore to to find the killer, and exile him. When the blind prophet, Tiresias, was asked everything he knew about the situation, he responded that the man who was presently king, was responsible for the murder. Confused, oedipus, blamed creon and Tiresias for plotting to overthrow him.

Jocasta tried calming him down, and narrated to him how laius was killed. 

Oedipus  became nervous the story sounded similar to the incident many years ago, in which he had killed a regally clothed man and his charioteer. Still he refused to believe it. Polybus and merope were his parents, they had to be. When oedipus heard that there was a slave who witnessed laius' death, he sent for the slave. Just then, a messenger from Corinth entered the court to inform him that polybus of corinth was dead.

Still believing that Polybus was his real father, Oedipus was relieved. there was no way he could kill his father now. But afraid of the second part of the prophecy, he refused to attend the funeral, to avoid meeting his mother. It was there, the messenger revealed to Oedipus that Polybus and Merope weren’t his real parents.

The messenger knew this because he was the very shepherd who handed baby oedipus to Polybus and merope, many years ago. Doubting the entire story, oedipus waited for the slave to arrive. But Jocasta, who had been watching all along,did not need any more evidence than this. she fled to her chambers in great distress, the warnings of the oracle, from the very first beginning, had come to pass. In tears, Queen jocasta hanged herself, in her chambers. The slave arrived, and recognizing oedipus, confirmed that the theban king was the one who murdered Laius, years ago.

What a terrible moment it was for oedipus, his worst fears had come true, what he tried running away from for so long, had finally found him. He had killed his father, and married his mother. Oedipus went to look for jocasta, and found her lifeless body, dangling from the ceiling in her chambers. He took two pins from jocasta's gown, and blinded himself. Keeping his promise, the promise that he would exile the killer of Laius, oedipus banished himself from thebes. His life was a curse.

Guided by his daughter, antigone, oedipus reached athens, where they were welcomed by king theseus. Tired of life, oedipus was mysteriously taken by the gods, who took pity on him, after he prayed to them to end his cursed life. He had done nothing to deserve such a cruel fate. Oedipus Rex at the end proved tobe a tragedy and ended in a tragic way. His own tragic flaw and fate led to his on destruction which is the significant aspect of Oedipus Rex.